Devonshire Hill Primary School invites students from as far away as Australia to return to their roots, reports Olivia Opara

Former of pupils of Devonshire Hill Primary School gathered for a reunion

A Tottenham primary school hosted a reunion for five of its former students to revisit their roots from almost 60 years ago.

Devonshire Hill Primary School in Weir Hall Road hosted a tour that brought together five of its former students and childhood friends now living in Hertfordshire, Essex and even Sydney, Australia.

During the reunion the lifelong friends exchanged stories, searched for their names in the admissions books, explored the photo archives and recreated past photographs with current learning support assistant Mrs Adams (formerlly known as Margaret Lowman), who also attended Devonshire Hill.

They quintet also visited the the ‘Steam Engine’ where students currently practise science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) – serving as a reminder for lessons they had in needlework, woodwork and ironwork.

One of the former students said: “Devonshire Hill was the making of us all and, with the education and development we received, gave us the tools and experiences to fill our ‘life backpack’ to go on and have amazing careers”.

The tour ended with the friends arranging the original blacksmith statue to display ‘the best house’, a competition between the four in-school houses Bruce, Compton, Pembroke and Siward.

Mrs Adams said she was “thrilled” to guide the tour and said that the experience was “magical”. She added: “What a wonderful group of people, they seemed to instantly feel comfortable in these familiar surroundings and had great stories to share.”

Headteacher Julie D’Abreu said: “This is not the first time the school has welcomed former pupils to share the school’s history. We hope to welcome others in the near future.

“Each person who returns speaks so highly of their experience at Devonshire Hill, it’s so wonderful to learn where their journey has taken them since.”

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